Firefighting planes battle massive forest fire in Fontainebleau forest near Paris
French authorities deployed two firefighting aircraft to the Paris region on Sunday as an exceptionally intense wildfire raged in the Fontainebleau forest, covering 800 hectares and causing partial closure of the A6 motorway and major rail delays.
A highly virulent forest fire of exceptional scale broke out on Sunday afternoon in the Fontainebleau forest, approximately 60 kilometers southeast of Paris. The flames rapidly spread across 800 hectares (2,000 acres) and were still advancing early Monday, according to officials. The fire forced the partial closure of the A6 highway, the country's main north-south artery, disrupting traffic during a heatwave-stricken summer holiday weekend. High-speed rail services were also affected; French rail operator SNCF reported delays of up to six hours for trains arriving at or departing from Paris's Gare de Lyon station.
Firefighting aircraft suspended operations at nightfall on Sunday. About 15 homes were evacuated in the village of Vaudoue, and firefighters were defending several other towns in the area, said the local Seine-et-Marne fire service. Without the planes, other villages would have been evacuated as well, noted Olivier Compta, who oversaw the operation. Approximately 400 firefighters worked to contain the blaze, which erupted two days before France's Bastille Day national holiday on July 14.
Eric Brocardi of France's national firefighters federation said it was the first time firebomber planes had been deployed from the usually drier and hotter south of the country to extinguish fires in the Paris region. Two firefighting helicopters and an observation aircraft were also assisting. "The aim is to save lives and property," Brocardi said as the fire advanced. Earlier, firefighters had tackled another fire that blocked a highway east of Paris and disrupted a high-speed train line to southern France.
The Paris region and much of the rest of France have experienced successive heatwaves since May, breaking temperature records in several European countries and causing thousands of excess deaths according to estimates from Belgium, Britain, France, and Spain. The June heatwaves would have been "virtually impossible" without climate change, said the World Weather Attribution group of scientists. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, who was to visit Fontainebleau on Monday, stated that forest fires have already consumed 17,000 hectares this year and, once tallied, would reach 25,000 hectares – "twice as much as the same period" in 2025, he added.
